Heartland Advisors Inc. Sells 6,244 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Heartland Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 80.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,559 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 6,244 shares during the quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,127,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Harborfront Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Financial Freedom LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Joseph Group Capital Management acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Timothy M. Deane sold 8,621 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $590.76, for a total value of $5,092,941.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 134,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $79,534,609.56. This trade represents a 6.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 10,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.53, for a total value of $6,335,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 346,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,608,106.26. The trade was a 2.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 276,692 shares of company stock worth $169,030,834 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Applied Materials Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $484.19 on Tuesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $154.46 and a 1-year high of $739.67. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $560.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $453.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $384.25 billion, a PE ratio of 41.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.61.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $3.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $9.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.99 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 30.05% and a return on equity of 38.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.48 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.820-4.220 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMAT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $740.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Craig Hallum boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $530.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $605.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $510.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $659.83.

Applied Materials Profile

Applied Materials, Inc is a U.S.-based supplier of equipment, services and software used to manufacture semiconductor chips, flat panel displays and other advanced materials. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, the company designs and sells capital equipment and related technologies that enable production of integrated circuits, display panels and materials used across the electronics supply chain.

Applied Materials’ offerings include process equipment and factory software that support critical steps in device fabrication, such as deposition, etch, implantation, inspection and metrology, as well as systems for packaging and advanced heterogeneous integration.